Local hardware store thrives among giants

Local hardware store
thrives among giants
Inclusion in news report
made Trygar’s a case
study for MBA students
BY JOLENE HART
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Bonnie and Ed Trygar show a copy of The Wall Street Journal from 1999 that detailed how Trygar’s Hardware was able to survive amid the larger chains.

SOUTH RIVER — If Ed and Bonnie Trygar are an exception to the rules of business, you wouldn’t know it from speaking with them.

As the owners of Trygar’s Hardware, a small business success story, they have withstood competition from larger home improvement retailers with ease and assurance.

The Trygars said they firmly believe in the potential of small businesses.

Trygar’s Hardware and Locksmith has been a South River fixture for 30 years. Ed Trygar’s parents bought the Ferry Street store in 1974 and operated it until 1985, when Ed and Bonnie took over.

In the spring of 1999, around the time Home Depot opened a string of mid-sized home improvement stores called Villagers, The Wall Street Journal sent a reporter to look at how small businesses were faring with major corporations as their competitors. The reporter spent a few days with the Trygars and wrote an article that compared the strategies used by Trygar’s Hardware and the Villagers store on Route 18.

To keep competition at bay, Trygar purchased a new sign for his store, made modifications to the return policy and even resolved to be in a good mood more often. He also kept his business stocked with different merchandise, often of better quality than would be found in large chain stores.

In all, the arrival of Villagers didn’t negatively impact his business.

"Villagers didn’t affect us one bit," Trygar said.

Two years later, Villagers closed, mak-ing a quiet transition to a regular Home Depot store.

"They just dumped the Villagers concept," Trygar said of Home Depot. "They couldn’t compete on service."

After facing the initial rivalry, Trygar said he is "not too worried" about competition from the larger stores that continue to spring up in the region.

He said his ability to keep the store profitable has less to do with business savvy than with experience.

"I’ve been working here since junior high," he said.

The Trygars’ story has been used as a case study for MBA students at the University of Chicago School of Business since its publication in The Wall Street Journal.

Through the years, Trygar has kept in touch with Thomas Hubbard, a University of Chicago professor who completed his doctorate on small businesses facing competition from larger corporations.

This spring, Hubbard invited the Trygars to visit his "Competitive Strategies" class at the School of Business.

The Trygars sat in on the class, incognito, while students discussed the merits of the Trygars’ small business ideals versus Villagers’ large-scale home improvement offerings.

"It was interesting, trying to keep your cool listening to the big business supporters," Trygar admitted.

During the discussion, Hubbard revealed the identity of the Trygars, who then spoke to the class about their experience and answered questions about their story.

"Here’s a major business school teaching that small, owner-operated businesses can and do compete. It was nice to see," Trygar said.

He said the case study also will be introduced to business students at Yale University.

"The political rhetoric is that smaller businesses can’t compete. That’s not the truth," said Trygar. "People like coming to a small store. In South River and elsewhere, there’s really a market for people who want service."